Transform the World

Today is my 6th anniversary of blipping which means that for six years I have posted a daily picture on the Blipfoto site without interruptions. Not just that but I have enjoyed every minute of my blip adventure. Finding a picture was easier on some days than others but it has never been difficult. I love having a camera in my hand, both to take pictures of the garden, where we live, where I go and there is always my art too. What I am finding more and more difficult is keeping up with all my friends on blip, leaving comments etc. even though I love looking at all the pictures. So I'm going to scale that back, and if by chance I miss posting a daily blip I will accept that it simply wasn't meant to be on that day.

By amazing coincidence the theme on Colour Me Positive this week is: Community. The universe was definitely smiling down on me!

As there wasn't much time to make a completely new spread from scratch, what with being away teaching and the arrival of Flora I decided to use some pages I did to show my students on Tuesday. I thought it would be a good idea to demonstrate that you didn't have to use a dedicated art journal such as the Dylusions one but instead used the sketchbook they were already working in as part of the Creative Sketchbook course which was an ring bound A4 sized one from SeaWhite.

The pages are great for sketching but not ideal to use with acrylic paint. So I started (as I usually do anyway!) by gessoing and I also made sure that the adjoining pages on both sides of the spread I'm working on are blank and after finishing the spread I glue the spread to those pages which makes them a lot more sturdy and also straightens them out.

The background of this spread was more or less done before class and for the challenge I outlined some of the elements and added the quotation that reads: "Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world" (Howard Zinn). It combines what Blipfoto stands for and also reflects the Community theme on Colour Me Positive.

 Techniques used: collage, rubber stamping, stencilling

Materials: for the collage I used old scrapbook paper featuring roses, wrapping paper, Tim Holtz tissue wrap and a handmade paper with a little flower pattern which can only just be seen. I also  collaged with deli paper onto which I had stencilled a pattern. For the rubber stamping I used a small detail from a stamping sheet from ImpressMeNow. I also used the following stencils, all from Stencilgirl Products: L435 Ancient Marks (on the collaged deli paper),  medium and small stencil from October 2014 Stencilgirl Club, small one from the October 2015 Club and also the small one from the August 2015 Club set.

I'm very grateful to have been a part of the Blip community for the last 6 years and it's good to know that together the members have ensured Blip's survival into the future. Having paid for a year's membership recently you will find my daily pictures there as well as here, hopefully for years to come.